FSE kicks-off RESPECT Fan Culture project

Details

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The project will be implemented by the Football Supporters Europe (FSE), an independent, representative and democratically organised network of football fans in Europe with members in 41 countries across the continent.

FSE members have been organising Fans' Embassies all around Europe for more than two decades. In preparation for the UEFA EURO 2012, FSE has been training and preparing mobile fans teams from the participating countries together with the eight stationary teams from Poland and the Ukraine to cover the host cities, all of which will have the support of two coordination offices which are based in Kyiv and Warsaw.

The FSE will run Fans' Embassy services in all of the eight host cities under the motto "RESPECT Fan Culture" with the aim to promote positive and peaceful fan culture and thus to contribute to a festive atmosphere at UEFA EURO 2012. It will provide travelling fans with all the necessary information, assistance and services and will also encourage interaction between local community and international fans, as well as fans and authorities.

Activities

The RESPECT Fan Culture project will focus on establishing Fans' Embassies to be run by fans for fans: they will be very visible in their FSE branded vehicles and T-shirts and they will set up in popular parts of cities in order to interact with as many people as possible, they will also send team members out amongst the fans wherever they may be. They will arrange meetings with partner organisations, host city authorities and security, they will also organise information exchange and service points, in an open structure, in which specific information, which include football fan related guide books/ maps and/or support will be provided to football fans and tournament visitors.

Stationary Fans' Embassies will be set up in each host city. There will also be 12 mobile Fans' Embassy teams formed by professional fan workers or social workers from the participating countries which will follow the fans to their whereabouts in the cities, camp sites etc. In Poland these mobile teams come from Croatia, Russia, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Spain and Italy. In the Ukraine mobile fans embassy teams will be made up of fans from England, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Sweden.

The production of independent fan guides and fan guide maps in 15 languages are a key factor of the success of Fans' Embassies – multilingual material providing most important practical information to the international fans and tournament visitors. The fan guides will be available as a print publication, as well as in an interactive online portal